"It wasn't me": Alabama HC Nate Oats hilariously admits to getting a 'good night's sleep' amid UConn's flight issues ahead of Final Four game 

On Thursday, Alabama head coach Nate Oats amusingly acknowledged having enjoyed a "restful night's sleep", despite UConn's flight troubles.

Alabama basketball's highly anticipated game with the Connecticut Huskies is set to take place at 7:49 p.m. CT on Saturday in the Final Four. However, the Crimson Tide will have spent significantly more time in Arizona than their opponent.

UA flew in on Tuesday, while the Huskies attempted to fly out on Wednesday. Charlie Potter, senior team writer for Bama OnLine, reported that Oats commented on UConn's flight issues:

"It wasn't me. I didn't send anybody over there to mess with the mechanics. ... I did get a good night's sleep last night, which was nice."

The plane UConn had scheduled was coming from Kansas City but encountered mechanical issues that would have maxed out its allowable hours for the flight crew, necessitating a switch to a smaller plane. Eventually, the Huskies arrived in town after 3:00 a.m. PT, which would have been 6:00 a.m. in Connecticut, according to reports.

No. 1 UConn coach Dan Hurley said during his press conference that he managed to get two hours of sleep on the plane and two more at the hotel on Thursday. He humorously added:

"That’s why God made caffeine."

Meanwhile, the No. 4 seed Alabama coach said:

“I am glad I’m not the ops person for the University of Connecticut basketball team during this trip. That’s for sure,” Oats said.

Coach Nate Oats turns to Nick Saban for advice

Nate Oats revealed that he sought advice from former Alabama football coach Nick Saban after the Crimson Tide's loss in the SEC Tournament. Oats said:

“I talked to Coach Saban after we lost in the SEC tournament. I think just about every year he won a national championship they lost at some point during the year.”

“Football's obviously different, there are more games in basketball, but this year they lost the Texas game and he did an unbelievable job getting the season turned around. So, I called him [to ask], 'How do we get this thing turned around this late? We're not playing our best basketball.'”

The coach said Saban watched all the games and advised a simple thing, "Coach, guys got to [mentally] go to the next play."

Oats took that advice and shared what he told his players:

“We talked about that a little bit as a group and I'm like, 'You know what, we're going to make this real simple. We're just going to come in and we're just 'next’”.

Oats further added:

“I think it's a great philosophy in life. The best approach is to move on to the next best action."

Will the Crimson Tide basketball team be able to execute the advice given by Nick Saban? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.